Another Milestone...and we're just getting started!

I've got to say, as excited as I am about FFF's rapid development, I feel a little bittersweet as our pilot training program comes to an end with the conclusion of BGIA's "Global Social Entrepreneurship & Strategic Philanthropy" semester course. How can we be winding down? We're just getting started! The students have come so far in their study and practice of social investment. Now, all their hard work culminates this Thursday, May 14th, as the FFF Portfolio Student Directors (13 BGIA students from six countries) present the final youth-to-youth investment selections for their portfolio teams.

Seems like there've been weekly highlights and milestones:

• launching FFF w/former President Clinton at CGIU,
• visits to Acumen Fund, Echoing Green, the Action Center;
• inspiring guest speakers
• a NYC youth-to-youth Investor Pitch,
• a virtual investor pitch featuring entrepreneurs online from Ann Arbor, MI to my hometown, Portland, OR.

And it seems like every week, new potential partners emerge (from New Delhi to New York), new challenges surface (from capitalizing the fund to managing growth strategy), and we're figuring out ways to do things differently (and hopefully better, next time) as we develop and refine FFF's social investment model.

Throughout their semester-long academic training program, the Portfolio Student Directors have been considering 14 youth-led social ventures for FFF youth-to-youth social investment. Nominated by four of our Pipeline Partners (this round: Clinton Global Initiative, Global Engagement Summit, NYWomen Social Entrepreneurs, and Teach for America), these investment opportunities address one or more of our four portfolio global social priorities: Poverty Alleviation, Public Health, Climate Change & Energy, and Human Rights & Peace. I can't wait to see what they come up with Thursday. And can't wait to continue working together well beyond the end of this semester. As the poet Tony Hoagland says, "What I thought was an end, turned out to be a middle." And we've only just begun!